Can Alternative Media Redefine Public Service Broadcasting? Prison Radio & the BBC

DOI: 10.5176/2301-3710_JMComm14.55

Authors: Charlotte Bedford

Abstract:

The traditional model of Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) is under threat from the spread of marketisation and managerialism. Within a context of increased commercialism and concentration of media power on the one hand and media democratisation on the other, the survival and continued relevance of PSB is bought into question. Through the case study of UK prison radio this paper presents a new model of partnership working which redefines PSB within a fragmented and dispersed mediascape. These observations stem from wider research into the origins and development of the UK Prison Radio Association (PRA) and draw upon the accounts of those involved in the development of the organisation, focusing in particular on the BBC role in the process, and concluding that alternative media projects have a significant role to play in reconfiguring and redefining the concept of PSB.

Keywords: Alternative Media; Community Radio; Public Service Broadcasting; Social Justice; Prisons